Internet browsing has become a popular and indispensable use of computer technology. By using an Internet browser such as Mozilla® Firefox® or Microsoft® Internet Explorer, computer users are able to access web pages all over the Internet. (Mozilla and Firefox are registered trademarks of the Mozilla Foundation; Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.) Like many software applications, web browsers include settings and preferences to allow users to customize the look and feel, as well as the behavior of the application. Browser settings are typically saved in a file dedicated to the user logged into a computer operating system.
For example, a family's home computer can have operating system accounts set up for each member of the household. If the mother logs into the operating system and uses the browser on the computer, the browser can save her browsing history and preferences in an account set up by the operating system for her. If the father uses the browser on the computer in the mother's operating system user account, the father will be able to see the browsing history of the mother, and the browser settings will be according to the mother's preferences. But if the father logs into his own account in the computer's operating system and uses the browser, he will see the settings and history from when he last used the computer, regardless of whether or not he was the last user of the computer.
Some browsers have a profile feature that allows multiple profiles while in the same operating system user account. Each user profile can provide some difference in look and feel from other profiles. A user can create or change his or her user profile using a profile manager. The profile manager then displays existing profiles that are available for selection, or allows a user to create a new profile.
Most computer users do not know how to use profiles or even of the existence of profiles. Further, profiles do not completely separate data from other users. A browser starts up with the most recent profile, and a user must affirmatively change to a different profile. Users that do know about and use profiles must track which profile is currently being used and switch to another profile as appropriate. And the data of one profile is available to users of another profile.
Accordingly, a need remains for a way to log in and authenticate users into a web browser, without having to log into an operating system as a different user or use a separate profile manager, to address these and other problems associated with the prior art.